The invention relates to an apparatus for the processing of plastics material containers, with a shaping device for shaping plastics material pre-forms into the plastics material containers, with a heating device comprising a heating path for heating the plastics material pre-forms and with a sterilization device for the sterilization of the plastics material pre-forms, in which the sterilization device comprises a supply device in order to supply the plastics material pre-forms to the sterilization device, and in which the sterilization device can comprise or has respectively both an external disinfecting unit in order to sterilize the plastics material pre-forms at least on the external wall surfaces thereof and an internal disinfecting unit in order to sterilize the plastics material pre-forms on the internal wall surfaces thereof.
In addition, the invention relates to a beverage filling plant and/or a beverage container production plant with an apparatus for the processing of plastics material containers. The plastics material containers are, in particular, plastics material pre-forms, but an application to other plastics material containers, such as in particular plastic bottles, would also be possible.
The invention also relates to a method of shaping plastics material pre-forms into plastics material containers, in which the plastics material pre-forms are expanded by means of a gaseous medium, and in particular compressed air, to form the plastics material containers, in which the plastics material pre-forms are pre-heated along a heating path of a heating device before the expansion, and in which the plastics material pre-forms are conveyed along the heating path by means of heating path conveying means from a heating path supply device to a heating path removal device.
Furthermore, the invention relates to the use of heating path conveying means by which plastics material pre-forms are moved along the heating path of a heating device in order to heat the plastics material pre-forms.
Generic apparatus for the processing of plastics material containers with a shaping device for shaping plastics material pre-forms into the plastics material containers are well known from the prior art.
As well as the actual shaping and a filling which follows immediately or subsequently, the sterilization of a plastics material container to be subsequently filled with beverages is one of the central process steps in an apparatus for the processing of plastics material containers which operates aseptically at least in part. The possibilities of sterilization which are employed in this case can vary in particular with respect to the disinfectants which can be used and the respective performance of the process. To begin with, use was made almost exclusively of chemical disinfectants in which a germ-destroying effect is produced on the basis of chemical processes. More recent developments differ from this in that they use an ionized radiation in order to achieve at least an adequate reduction in germs on the plastics material container in question or on a plastics material pre-form out of which the plastics material container is produced. This ionized radiation consists in most applications of accelerated electrons which are produced by a suitable radiation source and which are accelerated onto and/or into the plastics material container to be sterilized or the plastics material pre-form to be sterilized respectively. A major advantage of sterilization by means of ionized radiation lies in the reduction or ideally in the complete avoidance of the use of chemical disinfectants.
Current sterilization systems available on the market at present have for example an internal disinfecting unit which comprises on the one hand an electron producing device for producing and accelerating the electrons and on the other hand a radiation finger element for guiding the electrons on internal wall surfaces of plastics material containers or plastics material pre-forms in order to be able to disinfect the internal wall surfaces through an opening in the respective plastics material containers or plastics material pre-forms. Other sterilization systems have electron producing devices by means of which specifically only external wall regions can be disinfected. In addition, there are also electron producing devices by means of which internal wall surfaces can be processed from the outside through wall regions of the plastics material containers or plastics material pre-forms respectively.
Before the plastics material pre-forms can be subjected to the actual expansion process, they have to be not only conveyed inside the respective processing device arranged upstream but also transferred between the individual processing devices, as a result of which a multiplicity of conveying, supplying and transferring devices are required. By way of example, a plastics material pre-form is first supplied to a heating device by means of a supply device, and there it is moved by means of a conveying device along a heating path past heating elements for heating in order to be subsequently transferred to a sterilization device by means of a transfer device. At the sterilization device the plastics material pre-form is processed by means of another conveying device ideally on an internal disinfecting unit and subsequently on an external disinfecting unit or vice versa, before it is transferred to a shaping device by means of a further transfer device. The plastics material pre-form must frequently be gripped several times by various gripping systems or the like, supplied, transferred, conveyed and/or removed in order to be able to convey it to the position necessary for the respective processing. It is to be understood that on account of the quite high structural outlay not only a more time-intensive conveying but also an increased maintenance outlay are involved on a multiple-component apparatus of this type for the processing of plastics material containers.
By way of example, the Offenlegungsschrift [Laid-Open Specification] DE 10 2008 030 156 A1 discloses a generic apparatus of this type and a related method of producing plastics material containers. The apparatus has a shaping device by means of which plastics material pre-forms are shaped into the plastics material containers. The plastics material containers can then be filled, in particular, with germ-sensitive beverages in a filling device arranged downstream, so that a sterilization device for the sterilization of the plastics material containers is arranged between the shaping device and the filling device, in order to reduce the risk of contaminated plastics material containers being filled and the beverages becoming undrinkable as a result. In order to be able to carry out the actual shaping process more advantageously, the plastics material pre-forms are preheated in advance in a heating device. In this case it is further provided that the plastics material pre-forms are already sterilized upstream of the shaping device in order to be able to ensure a greater certainty of disinfection as a whole. In this respect, it is proposed in the Offenlegungsschrift DE 10 2008 030 156 A1 that a first sterilization device should already be provided upstream of the heating device. In this context it is pointed out that this first sterilization device or a further sterilization device can be arranged inside the heating device. In addition, for example, a sterilization device can be arranged upstream of the heating device, a further one in the heating device and a further one downstream of the heating device and upstream of the shaping device.
The object of the invention is further to develop generic apparatus in such a way that their structural design is simpler, in particular with respect to a sterilization device for the sterilization of plastics material pre-forms.